PSU Requirements?

[Steve48]

Hello,

Recently I believe I had problems with my power supply, as swapping with another appeared to solve the problem. (Internet disconnect just as home page loads up). This got me to thinking do I have a high enough wattage rated power supply? I presently am using a 300 Watt PSU. My system is as follows:


FIC 503+ MOBO
AMD K6 233MHZ MMX CPU
128 Meg of RAM (64 PC 100, 64 PC 66)
Kenwood 52x CD
Maxtor 10 GIG HD
USR 33.6 Hardware ISA Modem
Inland PCI Sound Card
SIS 4MEG PCI Video Card
I small extra exhaust fan (using 12 Volt line)
Sony 3.5 in Floppy Drive

Is 300 watts sufficient for this?

Thanks,
Steve

[This message has been edited by Steve48 (edited 04-29-2002).]

[Whyzman]

300W should be sufficient for what you have. What kind of problems were you having with your PSU?

Perhaps you were getting "short" changed and there was simply a problem with your unit! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif Sorry, but I thought you'd get a charge out of the pun... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif



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May all your dealings in life be win/win!


Whyzman
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Reserved for Punishing Humor...A Pessimist's blood is always B-negative!

[Steve48]

Thanks Whyzman!!,

The main problem that I was having is that my internet connection would disconnect just as I would get on the ISP homepage. AOL or Juno.
Sometimes I would connect, but just for a few seconds. Other times it would drop before the final connection. I thought it could be a heat related problem, because if I shut down the system for about 10-20 min. the problem would go away, but would return later. Then I tried blowing a medium house fan at the computer with the case off. This had really no effect. But, I noticed that if I took off the PSU case and blew air into the PSU, the problem would go away. So I bought a fan with a 32 CFM rating for the PSU and that solved it for about 3 days. Then I noticed that the 2 heatsinks inside the PSU were quite warm, so I removed the transistors and put some heatsink compound on them and re-installed, and for extra measure I reversed the PSU fan so that the air flow was reversed, so that it blew air directly on the heaat sinks. Again that worked for about 2 days. So I then swapped out the PSU with another 300 watt PSU from a working unit that I rarely use for internet browsing. That was 5 days ago and I have not had the internet problem since! I know the problem may be someting to do with the Modem, but bolwing on the Modem had no effect. Only blowing on the PSU had any effect. Now if I can only figure why my task bar clock in WIN98SE looses time, but corrects itself on a reboot! LOL!

Thanks
Steve48

[Whyzman]

If your clock is losing time it probably is time to replace the battery on your MB.

If swapping the PSU has you running consistently then I would surmise that it was faulty, and behaving badly! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

Hope that does it for you! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif Does your MB have a thermistor to enable monitoring temps in the BIOS?

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May all your dealings in life be win/win!


Whyzman
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Reserved for Punishing Humor...A Pessimist's blood is always B-negative!

[YODA74]

the very first thing I would do is get rid of JUNO The second thing I would do is get rid of JUNO The third thing I would do is get rid of JUNO get the Idea http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

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YODA74@windows-sucks.com
CCMR (http://www.dreamwater.net/tech/yoda74/index.html)

[Whyzman]

Yoda,

What's your opinion of Juno? http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

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May all your dealings in life be win/win!


Whyzman
----------------------
Reserved for Punishing Humor...A Pessimist's blood is always B-negative!

[Steve48]

Whyzman,

My motherboard does not have a termistor as you asked. However, it does reccomend a EISCA CPU fan from PENTALPHA www.pentalpha.com/pen (http://www.pentalpha.com/pen) that does have a thermal sensor and monitors some input voltages. I have yet to order one.
As far as the CMOS battery goes, am a little confused on that issiue. I thought when the computer was running, that the CMOS battery was in a "Standby" mode and was not being used. I thought that the PSU took over the duties of the CMOS battery. I am NOT loosing any time when the computer is shutdown. Oddly enough however, if I reboot, the time goes back to the correct time. That has got to be a real clue, but I don't know what.

Thanks again,
Steve: http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

[saphalline]

The CMOS battery is indeed not used when the system is on. If your clock is losing time while running, then there's another indication that your power supply is a piece of broken crap! Replace it with a new one now!

I also checked that Pentalpha link and couldn't find the heatsink & fan you described. I suspect that they stopped selling cooling units for your processor type (Super Socket 7) long ago.

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Windows 95: A 32-bit extension of a 16-bit overlay for an 8-bit OS that was originally designed for a 4-bit processor by a 2-bit company that can't produce 1 bit of good software!

[Steve48]

Saphalline,

I DID repace the power supply with another one from a unit that is rarely used for internet browsing, and the problem with disconnects ceased. However, I still loose time on my Windows clock. Strangly enough, if I reboot, the time goes back to the correct time in Windows. (WIN98 SE)
When I have checked the BIOS clock it was correct too, but since I must reboot to get to the bios clock, I have no idea if it is resetting to the correct time also, or if it never looses time.

Thanks,
Steve

[Whyzman]

The battery on your MB powers the PC's internal clock. Check HERE (http://f.about.com/z/js/spr00.htm) for some additional information and troubleshooting. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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May all your dealings in life be win/win!


Whyzman
----------------------
Reserved for Punishing Humor...A Pessimist's blood is always B-negative!

[Nooyawkah]

My Enermax 350 PSU caused me nothing by grief from day 1. One thing after the other kept failing. After about a month I convinced the dealer to swap it for an Antec 400. All has been well ever since.

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They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
---Edgar Allan Poe